The Christmas Tree
by supergirl02
Summary: Reid buys a Christmas tree and Rossi comes to the rescue with decorations. Together the friends decorate while talking of the past and hoping for the future.


**The Christmas Tree**

_**SUMMARY:**_ Reid buys a Christmas tree and Rossi comes to the rescue with decorations. Together the friends decorate while talking of the past and hoping for the future.

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ I don't know own either the song or show

_**FOR:**_ Nebeula2 – I hope you like it hun!

_**A/N:**_ I joined a Christmas exchange. I had to use the song Camouflage and Christmas Lights by Rodney Carrington and two of the three prompts: secret Santa, Grinch, and an angel on top of the tree

_**OoOoOoOo**_

_** Another year has come and gone_

_And I'm still here holdin' on_

_To this riffle and a picture of my kids_

_Sayin' it's a holiday _

_Sure as him, don't feel that way_

_Don't think Jesus meant for it to feel like this**_

Spencer Reid, resident genius of the BAU sighed for the umpteenth time in the past hour. It wasn't that he wasn't having fun, but…ok, he wasn't having fun. Considering it was already well into the third week of December Reid didn't understand why he suddenly needed to put a Christmas tree up.

However, accordingly to Penelope Garcia it was "just plain wrong" that her 'junior G-man' didn't have a tree in which to put presents under.

Reid's slipped comment of "what presents" was met with wide eyes and a gaping Garcia who marched out of her computer filled office and into the bullpen, marched up to Senior Agent David Rossi and demand he 'fix it'.

The look on Rossi's face had been rather priceless, Reid was willing to admit. The older agent was stunned and confused, not sure how to fix what he didn't know. A hushed conversation later and Rossi was calling a meeting and the team was having their first secret Santa.

Afterwards he'd ordered Reid to go with Garcia, Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau, and Emily Prentiss. Reid had glared at the man, not wanting to go tree shopping.

"It'll be fine kid," Rossi assured him. "You'll be in and out in no time."

'No time' had come and gone almost two hours before. Reid had managed the first hour just fine but the second hour was become too much. Finally they'd agreed on a tree the youngest agent should buy.

As they passed mostly empty tree lots he found himself grateful that his apartment didn't allow real trees.

Considering how long it'd taken the three to agree on which _fake_ tree he should buy, he couldn't imagine how much longer it'd take them to agree on which _live_ tree he should get. He shuddered, imagining having to go from lot to lot for hours trying to find the 'best tree ever'.

Grabbing the tree from the back of JJ's vehicle, Reid gave a wave, "Thanks JJ."

"Put the tree up Spence," JJ told him, a smile on her face. "I want to see a picture on Monday."

Reid said nothing as he worried that he'd have to go back to the store to buy ornaments to decorate his new tree. He put the box in his living room and went to make a pot of coffee.

Hearing a knock he made his way to his door warily, slightly fearful that it'd be one of the girls, ready to take him ornament shopping.

"Rossi," Reid said a question in his tone and a glare on his face.

"Hey kid," Rossi walked in, as if it was normal for him to show up, carrying a box labeled Christmas. "I heard you were putting up a Christmas tree."

"You would know," Reid muttered, shutting and locking the door before turning to go grab himself a cup of coffee. He had a feeling he'd need the caffeine.

Rossi grinned, "Don't be a Grinch Dr. Reid. It's Christmas."

"We've had this conversation before," Reid intoned to his friend. "I'm not a religious person and I've never believed in Santa."

"It's also about family," Rossi told him, setting the box down on the couch. "You should know that. Now, let's get the tree up already!"

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" Reid asked, taking a deep swallow of the hot liquid in his cup.

"No," Rossi agreed with another grin.

Reid sighed but joined Rossi in opening up the tree box and setting up. As the two worked quietly, a rare occurrence for the young man who liked to spew facts, Reid thought back to how this moment came to be.

_***Flashback***_

Going home was never easy for Reid. Having left Nevada at 12 he only came back once a year to visit his mom. The only year that had changed was when he was 18 and he had her committed to the sanitarium where she currently resided.

The case of Riley Jenkins had been hard and to make matters worse Reid had allowed himself to be hypnotized in hopes he'd remember something. While Reid would never get a full memory of those moments where he saw his dad burning, what he now knew to be, his mom's clothes, he'd also never be able to forget those moments he did remember.

He'd also never forget Rossi's comforting hold as he told him he was ok and he was safe. Rossi was right; Reid was safe. Reid was safe because Rossi was there with him.

Once they'd gotten home Rossi had bundled Reid up and taken him to his cottage where the two had stayed for a week, riding out Reid's nightmares together. Every time Reid would wake up Rossi was right there, a calming hand or word at the ready and sometimes a cup of coffee.

"I should be happy to know the truth," Reid had finally said after waking up for the final time at 5 am.

"You should be whatever you want to be Spencer," Rossi informed him. "Look kid, I'm not going to lie and say I understand because I don't. What I do know is you're strong enough to get through this. And if you don't feel like you are then you come to us and we'll help you…_I'll_ help you."

"Why?" Reid asked with wide eyes. "You didn't even like me when you first met me."

"I didn't know you when I first met you." Rossi refuted. "You were just another fan who wanted to talk about things I put in a book to try and put behind me. But I learned about you Dr. Reid and I've learned _from_ you. We're friends, family, teammates; that's all the matters now."

Reid had blushed not knowing what to say…he still didn't.

_***End Flashback* **_

"Looks great," Rossi's voice broke Reid out of his thoughts.

"I didn't know there so many different types of trees." Reid intoned, stepping back to admire the new item.

"Something the genius Dr. Spencer Reid didn't know." Rossi teased. "I knew I should have gone with you and the ladies."

"Two hours Rossi," Reid said, a pained look on his face, "It took them two hours to agree on a tree."

Rossi snickered, going to grab a mug of coffee for himself. "Look through the box. I figured you wouldn't want to go shopping for decorations so I brought some extras I have. Some of them are old though so don't feel like you have to use them."

"This doesn't mean you're forgiven," Reid told him as he opened the box, pulling out decorations slowly.

The tree had lights already attached, all white, so Reid bypassed the bags of string lights and went straight to the bulbs.

"These look pretty new," Reid said, holding up a box that obviously never been opened.

Rossi shrugged and didn't reply as he began to pull out stuff too. He pulled out an angel and showed it to the younger man.

"You know this tree topper has been passed down in the Rossi family for four generations." Rossi smiled softly as he passed it over. "The box it was in was made especially for it so make sure you put it back for when you put the stuff up."

Reid held it nervously, "Shouldn't it be on your tree?"

"I'm not exactly getting younger Spencer," Rossi joked. "Go on kid, put it on and let's see how it looks."

Reid looked at him in confusion but did as he was told. He smiled softly, "Thanks David."

The two smiled and put up some decorations. Reid went back to the box to look at what else there was, deciding which ones he wanted slowly.

"What's this?" Reid asked holding up an old black and white picture of what was an obviously much younger David Rossi along with 4 other men; in front of them a tree with a star on top.

"Haven't seen that in years," Rossi mused as he stared at the picture in question. "That was Christmas in Vietnam. God, we were just kids. Younger then you are now, believe it or not."

Reid sat down on the couch cross-legged and grabbed his mug of coffee. He could tell a story was about to unfold and found himself drawn in to a time he knew nothing about.

"Someone had gotten cotton balls from the medical tent and we used it to make snow under the tree. The star is just a piece of paper and the tree is plastic…like a toy plastic." Rossi's voice drifted off as he got lost in the memories of MREs being eaten, everyone pretending it was a turkey meal, their sergeant bowing his head to pray. "In the background someone had a radio and it was actually playing 'Silent Night'. You can't forget that you're in a war zone but for just that hour or two we did our best to make it feel like home."

"What happened to the tree?" Reid asked, unable to stop himself from interrupting Rossi's reverie.

"There was a raid on the camp we'd made later that night," Rossi told him with a small shrug, "The tree was destroyed but I have the star."

He dug around the box for a minute before pulling out a battered, well worn, yellowing, paper star that had since been laminated to help preserve it. He smiled softly.

"Believe it or not," He informed his young friend, "This is one of my most prized possessions."

"Why?" Reid asked wonderment on his face.

"Because it reminds me that if I could survive that, I could survive anything," Rossi answered. He looked at Reid intently, "You're stronger for what you've made it through, you know. No one can take that from you."

He took the star and using the hooks he brought made a small hole in a corner of the laminated paper that wasn't touching the star and put it on the tree.

Reid looked over at him and smiled brightly. He didn't need the words to know how much he meant to the legendary David Rossi and it was because of things like this.

"What do you think?" Rossi asked, stepping back from the tree.

"I think it's the best tree ever," Reid answered honestly.

"Go stand next to it so I can take a picture to send to the ladies. You know they think you won't have the tree up till the last minute."

"You mean it's not the last minute?" Reid joked as he stood by the tree, a broad grin on his face.

"Funny," Rossi rolled his eyes, "Say Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Reid smiled as the camera went off. It truly a very Merry Christmas indeed.

_** A paper star on a plastic tree_

_Cotton snow in a manger scene_

_Do the best we can_

_To make it feel like home_

_Turkey dinner on paper plates_

_Sergeant bows his head to pray_

_Boombox playin' Silent Night_

_Camouflage and Christmas lights_

_Thank God, it's a silent night_

_Camouflage and Christmas lights **_


End file.
